Dominique Vandamme

Dominique Vandamme (5 November 1770-15 July 1830) was a Lieutenant General of the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars.

Biography
Vandamme was born in the Nord Department town of Cassel in Nord-Pas-de-Calais in northern France in 1770. He enlisted in the army in 1786, and was made a Brigadier General at the age of 23. Court-martialled for looting and later sent to occupation duties in the Batavian Republic after arguing with Jean Moreau, he became a general of the French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars and fought with bravery in the fight for Pratzen Heights (Battle of Austerlitz, 1805). In 1809, he commanded a corps of troops from Wurttemberg into battle. Infamous for his looting, Emperor Napoleon once said to him "If I had two of you, the only solution would be to have one hang the other". He also said that if he went to war with Hell, Vandamme would lead his vanguard.

Vandamme took part in the 1813 campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition, fighting at the Battle of Dresden and routing the Bavarian army. Vandamme later fought the Prussians during the War of the Seventh Coalition in 1815 and won the Battle of Wavre, but it was too late for the victory to count. He left for Philadelphia in the United States along with many other French military exiles, but later returned home and died in Cassel.